now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. we are here at the port in mobile, alabama where the carnival cruise ship is going to be coming in around two hours.

it's 12 miles away from the dock. when it gets to the dock it's 100,000 tons, it has no brakes and it has to get into port. that's a process that's going to take some time. there are more than 4,000 people on board. when they get to the dock behind me, they're going to go along that gang way. then they're going to go into the cruise terminal, finish any kind of customs they have to do, passengers have been telling me that's been taken care of on this ship, then they're going to go into the parking garage where the buses will take them to galveston, texas seven hours away or new orleans which is three hours away. erin, thank you very much. to call this a big night, a very busy night would be understating it. as we wait for that crippled

cruise ship to come in, we have other breaking news. the remains have been positively identified as killer ex-cop christopher dorner. and another major crime spree developing as well. the world being rocked by the arrest of a sports hero who inspired all of us. oscar pistorius, the olympic blade runner now charged with murdering his girlfriend. we will begin now with this breaking news out at sea. thousands of people waiting for their ship to come in literally. exclusive view of the carnival triumph under tow. barely inching its way forward. it is heading into the port of mobile, alabama right now about 16 miles off shore. the cruise line expects it to arrive at some time after 11:30

eastern time. a tow line broke under the strain of this massive vessel. what you're looking at, exclusive video of the ship. and some other exclusive video. a look at the revolting conditions that more than 4,200 passengers and crew have been coping with since a fire knocked out power over the weekend. buckets and bags because the toilets don't work. raw sewage streaming down hallways and pouring down walls. this video was taken by a passenger of the flooded walls walking through a corridor. >> oh, wow! that's not good obviously. she's not walking through bath water. throughout the night we'll be following the cruise ship's

progress, seeing how passengers are dealing with what you just saw there and a lot worse. we will be there live at the time of arrival. we get into the story. we begin with victor black well who's been providing exclusive video. reporting from alongside the cruise ship in a boat himself. you've been at sea following the ship since this morning, what have you been able to see? >> my team and i have been on this boat for 13 hours now. we watched this process from the moment the first boat went out many i can tell you there have been challenges all day. the original plan was to wait here in mobile bay for the ship to come in and follow it to port. as we waited and it was delayed one hour and then two, and then three, and then a fourth, we went out to the gulf of mexico, and what we found was a ship that was just at the mercy of the current. spinning 180 when there was no

tugboat in control, because the line broke. after they connected the line they started moving. this evening we found out that was the second mishap of the day, when a bit connected to a dug at the stern of this ship broke. so the two tugs right now that are operating the front and rear of this ship were not the original tugs involved. those have both been traded out. we know the ship got into the channel and started moving toward the port. chris? >> just to emphasize one of the points you made there. just to show how heavy this current is, you're saying when the tow lines broke, that massive vessel turned sideways all by itself? that says something about the strength of the current, we're going to learn more about that in a second. is it true, victor, if i still have you, that someone was taken off the ship for medical reasons earlier? is that true and if so what happened? >> yes, we heard that actually from the scanner traffic we were

listening to on our boat. we heard about 2:00 p.m. eastern there was a medical emergency on the ship. sure enough moments after that, we saw one of the first responders rushing away from the ship back to shore. we have not gotten confirmation from carnival what the medical concern was, we know one person was taken from that ship this afternoon, chris. >> victor, thank you very much. stay safe in that boat, it's been a very long day. appreciate the reporting. right now i want to bring in chad myers, he's going to give us a better look at where the ship is, why it's moving so slowly. we learned a little bit because of how it was pivoting there because of the strength. there are a lot of challenges here, chad, what are we dealing with? >> let's back up exactly seven days and three hours. this ship left galveston texas for a four-day cruise. here we go, galveston travelled down friday, stopped saturday. starting to come back, lost its engines. it was supposed to keep going to galveston, it got caught in this

loop current. it's the same current we talk about when we talk about hurricanes in the gulf of mexico, having warm water coming out of the caribbean. that loop current pushed it further to the north. for a while they thought they were going to drag it back to progress sew. they're not going to do that. they're going to move it up to mobile because the current moved it too far north. fast forward to today when obviously victor was talking about how the line broke for a while out here. and this thing was just aimlessly adrift for two to three hours. and then it made its way into the channel. we'll fly you into where it is right now. this was the tricky part, getting it lined up. you have a 300 to 400 foot wide channel and a -- i mean, all of a sudden, a 900 foot boat. this thing has to go straight down that channel. and now it's coming up the channel. people were seeing land. 8:00, 10:00 this morning, and they thought, we're almost there. no, when you see land, it's

still 30 more miles to get up into mobile harbor where the cruise dock is. there's the triumph about 12 miles away. it has to make a quick left and quick right and then finally dock there at the port of mobile. >> right now just to tell our viewers we're looking at 9 split screen there, the live pictures. the boat has lights, still underway, hasn't lost all power. a big part of the frustration is, they got to the channel, 30 miles, they should be able to carry that quickly, towing a boat. this is a huge ship, what difference could a current make? then we learned when it lost its tow line it pivoted almost immediately. how strong are the currents, how difficult is it to make wave against them? >> you have the elongshore current when you're just out into the gulf of mexico. they tried to push it back toward pensacola when the line broke. now we have a little bit of wind. this ship is almost 1,000 feet long, at least 100 feet tall.

that's 100,000 square feet of sail. think about how fast a sailboat could go if it had that much sail. when that boat gets caught by the wind it moves. now the wind has died down, there is no more current. this thing will be able to drive right at about 6 miles, almost 7 miles per hour right now. this is going to make good time, about 9:15, 9:30, central time, we're going to see this thing right near the dock. it may take it a while to get to the dock, we have to have tugboats on either side of the ship so it doesn't bang into one thing or another. the area this thing has to travel up is only 400 feet wide. you don't have too much room for ground before that runs aground. the only reason it would is because it doesn't have any power of its own. this is easy to do when you have a joystick and thrusters to drive this straight in.

when you don't have any power on your own you are relying for someone to drag you in. there's a lot of margin for error. >> they do have more practice docking the vessel with the tug. that should get easier, excellent point about how this is basically a buoyant building that they're dragging up against current right now. chad, i have to tell you -- >> a floating hotel. >> i have to say, between the storm and now, it is amazing how you can use your skills to predwikt even what's going to happen with the cruise ship in the gulf of mexico. we're going to leave you, a number of passengers have been reaching out to us, and we've been trying to contact them and get a better picture of the conditions on board the carnival triumph. with us right now, kayla who is six months pregnant, her husband, kayla's mother and her sister tricia. do i have you, can you hear us? >> yes, we can hear you. >> you're six months pregnant,

how are you doing? >> under the circumstances, we're doing pretty good. the baby's moving a lot. so i'm happy about that. we're both happy about that. >> do you know what the baby is yet? a little boy or girl? >> no, we don't know. we'll find out in march. >> one of life's great surprises. you're living through a surprise you didn't want to say the least. you say the night of the fire was extraordinarily terrifying, take us through it. what happened? >> it was absolutely the most terrifying experience i've ever gone through, that we've all ever gone through. about 5:30 the captain came over the intercom system over the entire ship and he called for the outfit for engine room six. we didn't know what that meant. about a minute later the cruise director came over and told us to stay away from the stairwell. we wanted to know what was going

on. we went to the room to grab our things in case we needed to leave. that's when a steward came banging on our door, yelling for us to get our life jackets. we got our life jackets, started to head toward the mustard station of the ship. as we were walking down the hallway, the hallway started filling with smoke. we made it to the station, and we started getting information from there. it was an experience where most of us felt like we were going to die. i can't even describe how horrifying it was. >> thankfully, kayla, that wasn't the situation, you're safe. it's very unpleasant but at least you're safe. a muster station for our audience, that's where people gather in grave situations. there's a lot of pretrip, precruise instructions about what will happen. most of us will never have to use that. kayla and eric were on board, they did have to. you're there with your wife. i don't want to make the mom to

be sick, so you tell me about the conditions you're having to deal with on there. >> well, you know, it can be described in a couple ways. but most importantly, it's unsafe for anybody, let alone a pregnant woman to be around a place where you can't use a bathroom with a flush. it smells like urine and that's probably the biggest issue we're having to deal with. last night my wife had to sleep with the covers over her face because she couldn't deal with the smell. it's not everywhere, but there's pockets of it. so that's the biggest issue we've been having to deal with. >> that's a pretty big one at that. let me g to kayla's family, tricia, can you hear me? >> yes, i can. thanks for joining us. i'm talking to your sister right now, i don't know if you can hear her. she sounds good. how has this been for family members? have you been getting information regularly? how has the frustration been?

>> well, it started out with information kind of automated message from carnival, they called my parents first, and my parents called me. i was actually out of town. we were able to text with kayla the first couple days. and so that was helpful. when they had a ship on side of them they were able to get a cell signal. that was helpful, hearing straight from her. it was unfortunate the news, hearing what she was going through. how scared she had been, what she talked about a minute ago. but then we lost complete contact for three days. we didn't hear from her from monday afternoon until this morning. so we've just been reading the news and trying to keep up as much information as we could. but the news is so sketchy, everything sounded so terrible. we assumed the worst. and not being able to hear from her made it that much worse. >> you have your pregnant daughter on board the ship, it's hard for her to be there, it's

probably just as hard for you to be wondering if she's okay. how are you doing. >> it's been quite a long week. it's been very stressful. as long as we were in contact it was a good thing. but when we lost that contact on monday and we didn't hear from her until this morning. i can't even begin to tell you how happy i was can you pick me up in mobile. it was wonderful. we're glad to know she's okay, and eric's okay. we love our texas family and we didn't want anything to happen to them. >> here's a good idea, why talk to me when you can talk to them. theresa, tricia, kayla and eric can hear you. please say something to each other, so you all know you're okay. >> hey, guys. >> hey, eric, i'm glad to talk to you. i haven't talked to you all week. thank you for taking care of kayla so well and your whole

family. >> we love you and we miss you. >> the baby loves you too. >> the kids are dying to see you. we're eager to get you off the boat and get you home. >> we're ready to be home. >> the faster you can get here the better. >> well, we'll be out in the waiting area waiting for you, promise. >> we'll be here. >> eric, you know, let me tell you something, as a married man for 11 years, that kind of praise from your mother-in-law, that is priceless. so if nothing else, eric, this has been tough to go through, but if your wife is healthy, you got that kind of love from your mother-in-law, there's a little bit of a silver lining here. >> i definitely married into a good family. >> let me ask you something, we're talking about silver linings and the value of a good mother-in-law. you can't put a price on that. you can put a price on what the cruise line says they're going to give you guys. you're going to be receiving $500, a refund and a voucher for a flight home and a credit for

another trip. does that seem like the right level of compensation to you? are you happy with that? >> you know, we're not really sure at this point what we're going to do with that. i'm happy the cruise line is offering us something. but at the moment i'd like to say that if anybody's getting money, we have to give money to this crew. the crew has been taking care of us from day to day around the clock. they're cleaning up all the ushen we spoke of before, taking care of the elderly. if there's anybody that needs to get extra money out of this, it's that amazing crew we've had around us the enstyer time. >> eric strong point thank you for making it. it's not easy for them either, i can't wait to hear you're safely on land. take care of your wife. thank you for talking to us. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> okay, and to your family,

tricia, theresa, thanks for joining us as well. i hope you get to see your family soon. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> take care of yourself. >> you're still looking at a live shot of the ship. if it doesn't look like it's moving very quickly, that's because it isn't. it has lights and power. the people on board clearly under duress as we were just hearing, no power, just think about what that does. and one of the biggest concerns, of course, sanitary conditions on board. let's get some perspective on that. let's bring in our man here, sanjay gupta for his read on the situation. sanjay, are you with me? >> yeah, i got you. we were just listening to eric and his wife kayla she's six months pregnant. there's video we saw of waste flowing down hallways, obviously not a good situation, but what are the health risks that extend from them. >> if i can offer a little bit of good news, the health risks

are pretty minimal. they may surprise some people. you're describing some pretty -- disgusting conditions. the thing about it is, you look for the basics, is there water, certainly? there is. it wasn't cold for a few days, but they have water. the refrigeration, in case medications need to be refrigerated and food. people are concerned about these health infectious disease outbreaks, but you remember katrina, they were concerned about it after that, because of the unsanitary conditions. it doesn't typically happen. i don't know how to say this, there's not a lot of the pathogens if you will in the fecal material that's been described. so as long as people are still taking care of the basics, hopefully health conditions will be -- there won't be a big health outbreak. >> a lot of families are bringing antibiotics, partly because they've heard from family members on board, but also as you know, we're very often hearing, when everything's okay on a cruise line, they end

up having outbreaks of all these different bugs we're scared of all the time. antibiotics, good move to bring to these people? will they be necessary or as you're saying, not really pathogenic, you'll be okay? >> i don't think they're necessary. again, like you were saying earlier, i get the sentiment, if they were my family on there, i would want to do everything i could as well. being sensible, a couple things to keep in mind. there is an infirmary on the ship. it was a crippled infirmary for a couple days, if people were sick or needed antibiotics, they're probably already getting them. you don't want to just give these medications willie nilly without being used to treat a particular infection. it could make somebody sick, and it can make the antibiotic resistance even worse, which is a real problem. i get the sentiment, but i don't think that's necessary. >> appreciate it, so the body's going to be okay, how about the head? how about the anxiety, are we going to sink? they're giving me a life preserver, i'm in the middle of

the gulf of mexico. are these anxieties that are just connected to the moment and they'll be okay, or is mental health something that will need to be monitors after this. >> that can last longer. the idea that there were periods of time where there wasn't much information. they didn't know exactly what was going on, we've been hearing about it from our perspective here safe on dry land. people are on that ship, there may have been periods of time where they literally thought, we're just going in absolutely the wrong direction and we don't know how this is going to turn out. those can be very anxiety provoking times. children and elderly tend to be more resilient. kids tend to take their cues from the adults. if there's panic at all, that can have a dramatic and long lasting effect on the children. situations like this, it tends to bring out the worst in people and the best in people. to the extent that people

actually helped each other, that can be very empowering and helping people get over some of this mental health anguish. >> you're so right. remember, 4200 people, this is a floating city. they're a community on board there, and the crew we were hearing from earlier, eric and his wife who is six months pregnant. he was saying the crew has been crowd standing. that can go so far to keep people together. they get back to the dock and everything's okay. good perspective, sanjay. >> welcome aboard, chris. >> thank you. we're going to stay on this story all night. until that ship comes in. the passengers are back on dry land and we're seeing those hugs that we're all looking forward to. we're going to talk with a cruise ship veteran who once worked on the carnival triumph and has exclusive insight into how things work at sea and sometimes they don't. also, we're going to talk to more passengers about how

they're getting by as our 360 coverage continues. [ laughs ] now this is a test drive. whoa! you really feel all 335 foot-pounds of torque. it's chevy truck month! silverado was also recognized for the lowest cost of ownership. hey, what are you gonna do with it? end table. oh. [ male announcer ] it's chevy truck month. now get 0% financing for 60 months, plus trade up to get $1,750 total allowance on a silverado all-star edition. or trade up and choose customer cash plus option package discount for a total value of $7,250.

is efficiently absorbed in small continuous amounts. citracal slow release continuously releases calcium plus d with efficient absorption in one daily dose. citracal slow release. with efficient absorption in one daily dose. we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of tim and laura. it's amazing how appreciative ople are when you tell them they could save a lot of money on their car insurance by switching to geico...they may even make you their best man. may i have the rings please? ah, helzberg diamonds. nice choice, mate.sts we join this loving couple. oh dear... geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. it's lots of things. all waking up. ♪ becoming part of the global phenomenon

we call the internet of everything. ♪ trees will talk to networks will talk to scientists about climate change. cars will talk to road sensors will talk to stoplights about traffic efficiency. the ambulance will talk to patient records will talk to doctors about saving lives. it's going to be amazing. and exciting. and maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. the next big thing? we're going to wake the world up. ♪ and watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. ♪ cisco. tomorrow starts here. welcome back to 360.

we're showing you a picture you can see nowhere else. the carnival triumph is being towed very slowly toward mobile. when it docks, be sure of this, we will bring it to you live. we have a lot of reporters everywhere covering this situation. my good friend erin burnett is down there dock side waiting for the ship to come in. what are we learning about how soon this will be? >> well, i'm good, chris. it's probably about 50 degrees here right now, maybe in the high 40s, and a lot of the people that were on that ship, they were going on a caribbean cruise, a lot of them don't have coats and are cold tonight as they come in these last couple hours. a man on board the ship just told us on board the ship they told him they're going to be having -- the ship will be fully docked at 11:00 p.m. eastern time. that's the latest they're getting on board the ship. basically it's going about 6, 7

miles an hour, inching closer and closer to where we are. on board, trey love i just mentioned to you, he was celebrating his 40th birthday on board that ship. he was in one of the rooms that didn't have a view. those are some of the places hardest hit, so hot without air conditioning, they had to take their mattresses and go out and sleep on the deck. donna, we spoke with her, she's own board the ship. and actually had taken some pictures of a -- basically buckets into which you were supposed to go to the bathroom in the hall they're filled with red bags. the crew said, please go to the bathroom in those bags. they had been told to urinate in the showers. it gives everyone a sense of how grueling and -- the knox jous fumes for this have been horrific for a lot of people that have been on board. the one thing you heard, everybody has had wonderful things to say about the crew. and as you know, the crew on this is more than 1,000 of them

about most of them are not american, they work for what americans would think are incredibly low wages. they have by all accounts risen heroically to try to help the more the 3,000 passengers on board the ship. that's been one of the real good stories of the night. >> that's very true. very true, erin. >> they're dock side, you're waiting for people to come. 4200 people are going to come off of this. where do they go? >> that's a tough part of this, one woman who was on board the ship told me earlier tonight they already had customs officials come on the ship. they've already done that long process on board. still, they have to get luggage for those 4200 people and get them off. behind me chris, you can see there's a gang way basically. it looks basically when you get off an airplane, that's where they're going to come off. the ship is going to be in that picture in a couple hours time.

they're going to come down this gangplank, straight into the garage where they're not staying, as you're aware. it's going to be already midnight after many days without a shower, and they're going to have to get in buses, there's going to be about 100 buses to take them either to new orleans and fly them out from there or all the way to galveston texas which is seven hours away. their ordeal is still many hours away from being fulfilled when you think about the fact that they're hungry, exhausted. they haven't been able to shower, they haven't been able to brush their teeth and there's still a long way to go. >> you're right, erin, and when they get on land, they're going to be so much happier, at least they know that ship is behind them, it will be the best bus ride in their lives. it's going to take time. >> stay warm over there. i'm tucked into the studio, i feel for you. don't worry about it. you'll get me back at some point. we're going to go back on board the ship. we've been able to get ahold of another passenger. 16-year-old haley myers. she's vacationing with her family, just managed to get a meal, and not a bad one either i

understand. what did you just get to eat? >> i had a half of a lobster tail and some pineapple. >> that's not bad. tell me, what's it like on board? >> stressful. everyone's trying to cooperate with each other. the crew is nice, though. but the showers are really cold. we're all glad our toilet works and we have a balcony. >> i'm reading here one of the things you're looking forward to is getting some greasy food, is that true? >> yes. >> well, it can't be that bad on board then if that's what you're looking forward to is greasy food. tell me about when you were finally able to get in touch with your family and loved ones. and know that everything's okay, and tell them everything's going

to be okay, tell me about that? >> it was kind of stressful. i didn't have touch with my mom or anything, so it was kind of hard. when we called them, texted them, we all just cried. >> i'm sure you did. this is very scary haley, even though you're on the way home, i know it's scary. i'm sure a lot of people are afraid there. >> and grandma and my aunts, they're so happy and they're worried. so we got in touch and everything, so yeah. >> i know it's a little scary. at least you know the worst is behind you. you're making time, it's slow because you're going into those currents. the ship isn't running under its own power. you know you're going to be okay, it's going to take some time? >> yeah, a couple more hours. >> and let me ask you, haley. you're a teenager, 16 years old.

have you kept battery charge strength up there? you've been able to text with your friends back on land? >> yes. i got in touch with them today. they're all concerned. they're really happy i'm coming back. >> were you going through some kind of text withdrawal when you weren't able to? >> a little bit. i warnltsed to tell them what was going on, but i couldn't. all you wanted to do on the cruise is have fun. >> that's true. you want to enjoy yourself. that's what it was supposed to be about, and that's what it usually is about. this is not what happens on cruises ordinarily, but it did happen this time. we've been showing your photos up there, what's been the hardest part for you? >> seeing the elderly being in pain. they can't do anything about it. some people have broken their

ankles and it's kind of hard to help them. >> well, you make sure -- there's a lot of tough comforts there, they do have an infirmary, medical staff. but without power it's got to make people uncomfortable. this has been tough. try to keep it together, it's going to be over soon. you're with some family, you have loved ones waiting for you. and you'll be back on land soon. okay? >> okay. >> you do well, thank you for talking to us. i appreciate it, i can't wait to see pictures from you when you get back on land. will you make sure you send us some of those so we can see them? >> yes, i will. >> you take care. it's good to meet you. >> thank you. >> good to talk to you. >> thank you, bye. >> let's bring back in sanjay for a second if we still have him. are you there? >> i'm still here, chris. >> a couple different elements that just came up, i don't know

if you could hear it or not. the elderly struggling because of this lack of climate control. small injuries as you said, there's an infirmary, should be able to be attended to. a lot of infants. it's difficult. creature comforts matter to the very small and the elderly, as more than just convenience, right? >> yeah. you talk about expectations here as well. i think haley was saying this they obviously went on a cruise. they expect to be having fun. you don't plan to try to be in a situation like this or prepare for a situation like this. either in terms of the pragmatic things, having the things you might bring to deal with pain. someone sprained their ankle. also psychologically as well. and also, you asked a very important question. that is just about the communication. you know, the communication can be very empowering. for a while, there was no communication. either with haley and her family, but very little

communication it sounds like we're hearing from some of the passengers in terms of what was happening. those comforts i guess come both physical and mental, chris. >> that's very true. and, of course, let's just keep some context here, also, i do not in anyway mean to overdrum ties this. you said the major health concerns are very few if any at all. this certainly is not what we were talking about earlier about hurricane katrina. but for these people at this time, this is horrible lifestyle. not that it's life threatening, but it's threatening to your lifestyle, right? fair assessment? >> it's miserable. you can almost hear a collective misery from the people who you've been talking to, people on that ship. the -- obviously the smells, just how disgusting the atmosphere and the environment has been for them. that's -- you know, that's tough. again, you asked earlier about specific health conditions, and i wanted to be fair about that, i just don't think that's a real risk.

i mean, i think -- you hear about nor row virus outbreaks for example on cruise ships, that can happen because people are living in close quarters or contained in close quarters, if one person gets sick, many people can get sick. that's true whether a cruise ship is in distress like this one is, or it's not. you're absolutely right. it's still a miserable experience it sounds like. >> it totally is. the cruise industry is growing all the time. that's why we're following this so closely, such a big part of people's lives. i'll be checking in with you, thank you for coming back to you. i'll talk to you soon. for these people, they were supposed to be having fun. this is a vacation. when it goes so long, and it could have been in greater jeopardy out there in the open sea, it raises our concern. thankfully they're all coming home now, we're going to keep following this story as the cruise ship does approach port. and we're going to follow other breaking news for you as well. coming up after the break, double amputee and star athlete,

oscar pistorius, the blade runner. an inspiration to so many for competing in the olympics on prosthetic legs. how we all cheered for him. now, he's charged in the shocking death of his model girlfriend. what police in south africa are saying about the shooting. we'll have it for you next. omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. ♪ [ indistinct shouting ] [ male announcer ] time and sales data. split-second stats. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪

it's so close to the options floor... [ indistinct shouting, bell dinging ] ...you'll bust your brain box. ♪ all on thinkorswim from td ameritrade. ♪

just a reminder, we're continuing to follow the arrival

of triumph, expected to dock in mobile, alabama at about 11:00 eastern time. we'll be following it, we'll bring it to you when it is live. you're looking at our exclusive video of the triumph, if you want to see where the cruiseship is tonight, you must come to cnn. tell one, tell all your friends, this is the place if you want to watch this beautiful return to dock when all these people can finally get off. 4,200 people and be with their families. there's that shot there, we'll have it up from time to time. other breaking news as well. in crime and punishment tonight, they were a golden couple in south africa. she a model he a star athlete, an inspiration, as the first double amputee to compete against runners with legs at the olympics. tonight, however, she is dead. and he is charged with murder. he is oscar pistorius, earned the nickname blade runner for running on carbon fiber prosthetic blades because of a congenital abnorm ailty he had both legs amputated below the

knee when he was a child. he was a par olympic start and fought for the right to compete in the olympics. he may have accidentally shot his girlfriend, early reports said. thinking he was an intruder in his house. now he's been charged with murder. >> reporter: bent over, hiding his head under a hoodie, olympic athlete oscar pistorius is led away by police, after they say he killed his girlfriend before dawn on valentine's day. and in a sad twist of fate, his last tweet on the 13th of february said, what do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow. the shooting took place behind the walls of this community in south africa. inside, pistorius' home, oscar pistorius invited cnn into the

house a few years ago. and showed us the prosthetic legs. >> i'm missing a fibula, this is the tib u la. later he also showed us pictures of when he was a child. always adventurous and daring, he water skied, scuba diving and bike riding with his prosthetics. it was somewhere in this house that he allegedly fired a pistol. the bullet hit reeva in the head and arm. her family is left grief stricken. >> it's a devastating shock. what she could achieve never came to fulfillment. she's with the angels and that's about all i can say to you folks. >> a stunning change of fortune for a man who inspired so many became known as the fastest man with no legs running on carbon

fiber blades, beating other athletes with legs. a journey of determination and struggle said his coach before the olympics. he spent valentine's night in jail. police say he is cooperating. no word on when reeva will be buried. >> robin, thank you for joining us. what's the latest? >> the latest is, that oscar spent a night in jail. he'll be facing a magistrate on friday morning. the police have already said that he'll be officially charged with murder, they also say crucially that they oppose bail. >> and what is the theory right now about why this happened? >> you know, i think there are a lot of theorys out there, a lot of speculation, a lot of rumors. there was the sense that perhaps oscar had shot dead his girlfriend because he mistook her as an intruder. however, later on in the day, the police kind of dismissed this theory, the speculation

saying it had never come from them. and they seem to point at more of a domestic violence scenario. >> lastly, you know oscar pistorius, he's a national hero, broken so many barriers, he's a symbol for so many. anything about his character that would lead to a discussion he's capable of something like this? >> i think this is why -- i think there's still a sense of disbelief from people like me interview people like him all the time. i'm still trying to struggle with the thought, is there another oscar pistorius? is there another deeply complex darker side to his character. the man i knew, and a lot of people knew -- all of us saw him as an open very sort of generous kind with his time. at the same time, he was driven and ambitious and disciplined. but he was a man who really was very charismatic. he was an open kind person.

there's a deep sense of confusion as to how this all adds up. >> terrible situation, no matter the explanation. robin, thank you for joining us. just tough. tough anyway. we need more information there. we're going to get it as soon as we can. we're going to get caught up on other stories we're following right now. we have susan hendricks with a 360 bulletin for us. >> authorities in washington state say two fifth grade boys armed with a semiautomatic rifle, an ammo clip and a knife plotted to kill a fellow student. senate republicans today blocked a vote to confirm chuck hagel. democrats fell short of the 60 votes they needed to end a filibuster. now, the senate will take up another vote on hagel on february 26th. and republicans have signals they are willing to allow the nomination to move forward arch a recess. the justice department says transocean deep water will pay a $400 million fine for its role

in the 2010 deep water horizon explosion and oil spill in the gulf of mexico. as far as environmental fines, that is the second only to the $4 billion bp was penalized for its role in the spill. bp contracted transocean to do the drilling. banana joe, the affenpinscher who won best in show enjoys a steak on a silver platter at sardi's restaurant in new york city. much deserved. chris? >> he deserves the steak, you know why? look at the poise. he's sitting there, he has to hold his stance and people randomly grab his tail and lift him off the ground. he can't say anything. >> give me the steak. give me the steak. >> he's a cute little dog. >> and a champion. just ahead, we're going to go back to the arrival of the carnival triumph, when our 360

coverage continues. for your pe, helping you readjust your retirement plan along the way. rethink how you're invested. and refocus as your career moves forward. wherever you are today, a fidelity ira has a wide range of investment choices to help you fine-tune your personal economy. call today and we'll make it easy to move that old 401(k) to a fidelity no-fee ira. how sharp is your business security?o!

can it help protect your people and property, while keeping out threats to your operations? it's not working! yes it is. welcome to tyco integrated security. with world-class monitoring centers and thousands of qualified technicians. we've got a personal passion to help your business run safer, smarter, and sharper. we are tyco integrated security. and we are sharper. but they haven't experienced extra strength bayer advanced aspirin. in fact, in a recent survey, 95% of people who tried it agreed that it relieved their headache fast. visit fastreliefchallenge.com today for a special trial offer.

exclusive aerial video of the carnival triumph, expected in the port at mobile alabama within the next couple hours, about 11:00 p.m. eastern time. we will be here when it comes in live. some perspective now, on what passengers are going through. looking at a split screen. if you want to see what's going on with the carnival ship triumph, you must see it here on cnn. you will not see it anywhere else. please stay with us if you want to see what happens here. this is the place to see it. why is this happening? what does this mean? is it about the ship or the industry? well, let's get some perspective. joining us now jay herring, a former senior officer for carnival cruise lines, worked on the triumph, also the author of the truth about cruise ships. the cruise ship officer survive

s ship life. quite a long title. >> it was a fun experience. a lot of experience working on a cruise ship. you know, when i was on the triumph, we actually sailed in a hurricane. we had 30 foot waves crashing up over the bow causing all kinds of flooding and damage. and so when you look at this story, this would be a very different story if we had a storm system in the gulf with a ship with no power. >> very true. luckily that was not the case. let me ask you the most obvious question we've been getting all night. we can finally get an answer. why didn't they just send another ship when this happened and put the people on to that ship. either bring them back or continue on with the cruise? why didn't they swap it out? >> passenger safety. there's a report that just came out today, that five crew members were killed in the canary islands in a life boat accident. and so that's why we don't do this. you think about these life boats are 50, 60 feet off the water.

if something happens and they don't come down, two cables don't come down simultaneously. there's risk of injury there. and once you're in the water, okay, let's say they use the on board ferries and you get on the boat, well, now you have an itty bitty boat, and one to two waves is going to make this boat bob up and down next to a massive cruise ship that's going to remain stationery. imagine you have this boat bobbing up and down, and a gang way in between it. you're trying to walk children the elderly across that, it would be disastrous. >> it's really not easy, is what you're saying? it sounds easy, but it season the? >> yeah, the only time you would ever leave the boat is if your fear of the cruise ship is greater than your fire of getting into a tinder or a life boat. >> you worked on the triumph, tell us, i mean, obviously, life on a cruise ship, 4,200 people, it's like a small village. is this a good vessel? is this a ship that when you were there, was known to be sea

worthy and was a happy place to work? >> yeah, this ship right now is 14 years old, and that's -- it's now one of the older ships in carnival's fleet, because they come out with so many new ships almost every year. so you think about the analogy of an older car, the older cars break down more and need more servicing. the same holds true for a cruise ship and it's even multiplied. imagine you take that analogy of a car and multiply it by 100,000. imagine this cruise ship is three football fields. and imagine all the moving parts and plumbing and systems that are involved. >> let me ask you something, you said this is one of the older ships in the fleet. the costa concordia, there was another ship that was carnival that was stranded somewhere. and now this. why always carnival? is it always carnival? is that fair? >> no, i think carnival's doing everything they can to safely sail. a clean safety record is mandatory for the industry. it almost self-regulates itself,

because it couldn't exist or be profitable if it was known for constant mishaps. that's -- i mean, that's -- that's key. >> triumph itself did have some type of mechanical issue not too long ago, right? >> yeah, right, and we don't know all the details yet. it could be related to this, it could not. you know, it -- even if the ship is sailing under partial power, they can still -- it can still sail. >> another expert said to me, not to cut you off. i was talking to this other expert before, and he said to me, the truth is, it is like a floating city, you're right. and things go wrong in cities all the time, there's so many different systems affected. a ship has problems, they all have problems, it doesn't mean they are terminal problems. it could just be temporary. as to our audience, you're looking at this shot, every once in a while it may look like lights are going off on the ship, it's not. it's the shot going in and out. jay herring, it's a great name for a guy who worked at sea.

appreciate you being with us. >> it was a pleasure, thank you. >> we're going to stay on the cruise ship triumph, find out when it gets to dock, when it does, we have other news for you as well. we're going to take a quick break, we'll be right back. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 all in one place. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 introducing schwab etf onesource™. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 it's one source with the most commission-free etfs. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 one source with etfs from leading providers tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and extensive coverage of major asset classes... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 all brought to you by one firm tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 with comprehensive education, tools and personal guidance tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 to help you find etfs that may be right for you. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 schwab etf onesource-- tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 for the most tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 commission-free etfs, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 you only need one source and one place. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 start trading commission-free with schwab etf onesource. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 call, click or visit today. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 investors should carefully consider tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 information contained in the prospectus, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 including investment objectives, risks,

tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 arges, and expenses. d#: 1-800-345-2550 you can request a ospectus by calling schwab tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 at 800-435-4000. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 please read the prospectus carefully before investing. if your a man with low testosterone, you should know that axiron is here. the only underarm treatment for low t. that's right, the one you apply to the underarm. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18. axiron can transfer to others through direct contact. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant, and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. report these signs and symptoms to your doctor if they occur. tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. do not use if you have prostate or breast cancer. serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer; worsening prostate symptoms; decreased sperm count; ankle, feet, or body swelling; enlarged or painful breasts; problems breathing while sleeping; and blood clots in the legs. common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied,

increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. see your doctor, and for a 30-day free trial, go to axiron.com.

welcome back to anderson cooper 360. as we've been telling you, right now, live picture, exclusive to cnn. if you want to see when the triumph gets into dock, have you to watch it right here. tell one, tell all. i'm sorry if you've heard me say that, i have to assume some viewers are just tuning in. right now we're going to deal with the charred remains found in the burned out can